Chapter 2

2

Ben

W henever the President of Boyd, Hollman, and Brooke asked you to come to their office, a sense of dread and fear took over. Most people disappeared quickly after a trip "upstairs," and my stomach had risen all the way to my head. I was an exemplary employee, goddammit. I was on time, and I had overseen three huge projects for them. My current one was right on track to finish on time and come in under budget. Why the fuck would they want to get rid of me? Downsizing for a company that was growing by leaps and bounds? It wasn't right.

I must have pissed the wrong person off. It was a hard job, but I loved it. Hell, I thought I was even on track to become a partner in the firm one of these days. This had been a dream job, and I hoped that dream didn't turn into a fucking nightmare. I just bought a three-million-dollar condo!

This wasn't fair. The elevator dinged, and I stepped out onto the top floor of our twenty-three-story building. Glass walls that let you look out onto the nightmare of San Francisco traffic surrounded me. It was awe-inspiring and panic-inducing at the same time.

"He's waiting for you, Ben." Shirley looked up from her computer screen and started typing furiously.

"What's his mood?" I asked, trying to get the lay of the land.

"Unpleasant, so fairly normal." She shrugged.

"Any idea what this is about?"

"Not a clue. I heard him scream, and then he told me to tell you to get your ass up here. Good luck, kid." She winked. "I like you."

"Thanks," I let out the breath I had been holding since getting in the elevator—that's what it felt like anyway—and knocked on the door.

"Ben!" Mister Boyd barked loudly. "Come in."

I took a deep breath before I turned the giant round handle on the grand oak doors and pushed gently. Mister Boyd was not in the room alone. This was definitely not going to be a good meeting.

"Have a seat, Ben." He frowned and crossed his arms as he stood behind his desk. "Now that he's finally here, let's begin."

I glanced around the room to see the other owners, Larry Hollman and Andrew Brooke, sitting beside Mister Boyd's desk. They had offices a level below because there was only one president of this conglomeration, and that was the gentleman looking at me very angrily behind his desk. A couple of lower-level vice presidents sat on the other side of the desk. I walked over; my feet felt sluggish, but I sat down in the chair directly in front of his desk and gripped the wooden armrests.

"How long have you been with us, Ben?" He turned to look out at the large glass wall overlooking the Painted Ladies across the park.

I cleared my throat. "Five years, Sir."

"I've been told that you are on track to eventually become a partner. Your work always comes in on time and under budget. Those are great numbers and qualities for what we do here. It's always about the bottom line."

"Yes, Sir. I run a tight ship and understand the corporation's concerns and the importance of what we do," even if I didn't always agree with our approach. This hadn't been exactly what I had wanted to do with my life. But I couldn't argue with the money.

"Happiness, Ben. We provide happiness to people. All kinds of people, from a single person to families, as long as they can pay – we can provide the time of your life at any of our five-star resorts. It's why we exist." He stopped and turned around to look at the guys sitting beside his desk. "And to make money, of course. We are a business that provides, and all of the towns and cities where we have built the most luxurious of places open their arms and their towns to us. We turn a po-dunk town into a thriving place. Do you agree with me, Ben?"

I nodded. "Yes. You can look at the metrics of many of the small towns where we've put resorts to see that they've grown and the community thrives." But that wasn't always the case.

"So why are we stuck?" He stared at me, waiting for a response. My hands went instantly clammy.

"I'm sorry, I… I'm not sure what you mean."

"He… uh… hasn't been briefed, Sir." Tommy McGrath cleared his throat.

"I see. Wasn't that your responsibility, Tommy." His voice dropped with annoyance.

"I literally just found out that he was-"

"Your shortcomings are not my problem right now. Ben, have you ever heard of a small town—and it's not far from here, either—called Foggy Basin?"

My heart sank. "Uh… Yes. Yes, Sir."

"According to one of the nice people from HR – you graduated high school from Foggy Basin. Is that right?" His eyes bore into me.

"Yes." I nodded slowly, feeling my stomach churn at even the mention of my hometown.

"So, you are from there, originally?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Do your parents still live there? Are you in touch with any of your old high school buddies? Larry said you were the high school quarterback. I guess that meant you were pretty popular." His smile was anything but warm.

"It's been quite some time since I… Yes, my parents still live there, and I suppose there are some old friends who do too."

"You were popular? The starting quarterback… How did you know that, Larry?"

"Ben told me at the last holiday party while we were discussing football. It was just something I remembered."

"Steel trap over there. That's why he's a partner, Ben." He slapped his desk lightly. "And you're on track, or so they say. You must be very good at your job. Every project is on time and under budget, as I've been told. That's true upper-level management material, son."

"How long has it been since…" Larry was stopped by Mister Boyd's shark glance, and he immediately dropped his question.

"How long has it been since you've been home? I know that we've been working you quite hard. You're overseeing the lake resort across from Point Pleasant, right? Is it on track?"

"It is. I'm supposed to go back out there next…"

Mister Boyd held up his hand. "See, you are in a very great position to help this company and to even help yourself, Ben. That's great, right?"

"I… uh… I guess so, Sir." I could feel the chair sinking into the ground as I knew what he was about to ask of me. The last place I wanted to go was back to Foggy Basin.

"Call me Richard."

"I guess so, Richard."

"I think you should take some time and go back to your hometown and try to resolve this issue that we're having. You were popular, and people will remember you." He grinned.

"I'm sure they would." I was afraid of it.

"For this to work, we have to have the businesses on the South side of town sell their property to us. You can't knock something down and rebuild a palace without them doing that, can you? And I need those businesses to sign, Ben. Sure, a few small businesses have to move or rebuild, but we're offering a package that is more than fair for them to do it. It's growth, Ben. Your hometown of Foggy Basin will have one of the best golf courses in the entire world. People from all over the world will come and visit, spending their hard-earned money all over the town. It's a win-win situation for all of us. But especially for you, Ben. The hometown hero."

"I think it's…"

"It's settled then. Once it's done, we'll have a nice long chat about how to fast-track your role here in the company. You understand? I already have a lot of money tied up in this, and the financial forecasts tell us that this will be one of our highest-earning properties in the country. A world-class golf course, mountain biking, hiking, and river rafting – make this a... Not to mention the lake that's just on the edge of what will be our property, Ben. I bet you even swam in that lake, didn't you?"

"Yes, S… Richard."

"Then it's settled. You'll go home and tie everything up for us. Maybe even make them feel better about the whole thing by overseeing the project. You're one of them, aren't you." He grinned. "I'm glad we could have this chat, son. Make us all proud."

My feet drug as I walked out of his office like a fucking zombie. Foggy Basin… I hadn't been back there more than a few times since I graduated. My parents hated that I never wanted to… They visited me often enough that I didn't feel too bad about it. It was just that I had lost myself there.

I became someone that I wasn't very proud of and didn't really find myself again until I went to college. There, I became exactly what and who I had always supposed to be. My fear stopped me from being happy with the one person that I ever…

I couldn't be gay back then. Everyone expected something from me, and the way the football coach used gay slurs taught me that being gay was not what was expected of me. So I hid. I became mean and angry. I hated myself.

I would only ever have one reason to go back there, and I knew that he was no longer there.

Fuck… I liked my job a lot, even if every resort was a carbon copy of the last. I was still good at it, and the pay was more than great. I knew that I would pack my bag and I would do what I was told.

I just didn't think anyone there would be very happy to see me.